Isaac Brock
"''I'm not a big fan of the interview. It's a lot of questions I don't have answers for, a lot of questions about the music industry. I make music; I don't give a fuck about all the details of why it's different being on a major label than it is being on an indie label. So go ahead and cross that one off." '-Isaac Brock''' 'Biography' Isaac K. Brock was born July 9th, 1975 in Helena, Montana, and grew up in Issaquah, Washington. He is currently 44 years of age and the lead vocalist, guitarist, ukelelist, pianist, and banjoist of the successful American Indie Rock group Modest Mouse. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Brock has released over 11 albums with his band Modest Mouse, 4 more albums with his side project "Ugly Casanova", and now runs a label of his own: "Glacial Pace Records". As a result of these accomplishments, Brock is considered an Indie Rock legend. The band Modest Mouse formed in 1993 and began playing in a makeshift stage known as "The Shed", for literally being a shed beside Isaac's mother's house. While learning to play and befriending his band-mates, he made the decision to drop out of high school at the age of 16. He grew up in a '90s era Washington, USA responsible for bands like Nirvana and Screaming Trees. Brock released Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect? as a debut track and This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About as a debut album, which was not initially successful. The smash hit that got Modest Mouse the fame they never cared for and the money that they never really minded, Good News For People Who Love Bad News, ''was released in 2004. Throughout his career, he's been hit with many unwanted and fan-cherished interviews, putting tabs on his ups and downs. Through misanthropy, tragedy, drug abuse, alcoholism, pessimism, musical experimentation, success, failure, divided audiences, religious controversy, prison, girlfriends, recruited members, disposed members, and most importantly Indie Rock, Isaac Brock has withstood it all and somehow managed to come out on top. 'Views, Personality and Lifestyle' Brock has been accused of being a manic depressive and widely known for his misanthropic and atheistic views, however as is apparent in interviews and footage, not all adds up to be true. His philosophies may be dark, but his mood doesn't have to be. Isaac considers himself an atheist, or "pretty much atheist", but "has his thoughts". '"Do you consider Yourself an Atheist?"' ''"Pretty much, but there are things that make me think. Like that guy who played Jesus Caviezel getting hit by lightning during the filming of that movie? That just makes you think, "I can't be 100 percent sure." But I'm not going to change my game plan anyway. I don't think I'm living wrong in the first place, so when the lights go out on me, and brighter ones come on and I have to talk to some guy with a big, bushy beard, or some big glowing blob, I think I'm going to be fine. I'm 100 percent on the whole Christianity thing being a crock of shit, pretty much, but I don't give a fuck if other people are religious. Believe what you want. Whatever makes the day easier for you." -Isaac Brock in an interview with The Onion A.V. Club Isaac Brock has never married, but has had many girlfriends from all over throughout the years. A notable attribute to his singing career, Isaac possesses a lisp that he is not proud of, yet his fans typically take it in pride. 'Music' Isaac Brock has served as the lead in Modest Mouse ''and his side project ''Ugly Casanova. ''Albums written by Brock include: Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect? (1994) This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About (1996) The Fruit That Ate Itself (1997) The Lonesome Crowded West (1997) The Moon and Antarctica(2000) Building Nothing Out Of Something (2001) Everywhere And His Nasty Parlour Tricks (2001) Sad Sappy Sucker (2001) Good News For People Who Love Bad News (2004) Baron Von Bullshit Rides Again (2004) We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank (2007) No One's First, And You're Next (2009) Magic Eye Single No. 4: White (1997 Ugly Casanova) Diggin Holes" b/w "Babys Clean Conscience (2002 Ugly Casanova) Sharpen Your Teeth (2002 Ugly Casanova) 180 Degrees South: Conquerors of the Useless (2010 Ugly Casanova) Strangers to Ourselves (2015) 'Drug Use' Isaac Brock has written to, admitted to, and even written songs about extensive drug use and alcoholism. Drugs hes admitted to using range from meth to marijuana, acid to crack. There was a period of time in his life where he possessed an "up for anything" mentality. ''"There's been a lot of drug abuse. The only drugs I've ever actually written any music on are pills, pot, and alcohol. Acid or coke, you can't write songs on that shit. I kind of regret how much I did drugs. There was a point in time when it seemed like a good plan, but it probably wasn't. Especially inhalants, and shit like that—I think I was a bit brighter before I did that. Inhalants and meth were probably the two things that totally fucking screwed me out of some brain cells." -Isaac Brock again in the interview with The Onion A.V. Club Isaac Brock has made efforts to go "clean" since his 2004 release of The Good Times Are Killing Me, in which he essentially confesses to drug abuse and his (restlessness over the activity) through lyrical rant. 'Tragic Incidents' 'Rape Accusation- 1999' In 1999 Brock was accused under false pretenses of raping an anonymous 19-year-old girl. It is widely believed that the girl falsely charged him to land negative press on Brock, much to which she succeeded. The accusations, however, did not even place a dent in album sales. What it did dent was Brock's faith in humanity, further reinforcing his misanthropic views. A notably popular series of reports were done by "The Stranger" at the time, a final one reading: RAPE CASE IN LIMBO Modest Mouse Singer Still Not Charged by Samantha M. Shapiro LAST WEEK, MODEST MOUSE PLAYED THEIR FIRST local show since word got out in March that a 19-year-old woman had filed a police report accusing lead singer Isaac Brock of rape. From the looks of their well-played, sold-out gig at the Showbox and their upcoming tour supporting Built to Spill, the controversy appears to have blown over. Local columnist Reef Valmont, who writes "Kill the Lights" for on-line magazine Pandemonium, went so far to report, "apparently all rape charges have been dropped against Isaac Brock." "Apparently," in this case, is a euphemism for "according to rumor." The sexual assault allegation was recently passed on from the cops to the city prosecutor's office after a lengthy--nearly three-month--investigation. Down at the prosecutor's office, spokesperson Dan Donohoe reports, "It would be inaccurate to say charges have been dropped. They haven't yet been dropped or pressed. We're considering what's going to happen." Donohoe says the office expects to reach a conclusion in a matter of weeks. The detective who led the investigation, Ken Swanson, says he doesn't think the prosecutor's office will press charges. "Based on the evidence that I gathered, I think it's unlikely," he says. Neither Brock, who denies the allegations, nor the woman who pressed charges could be reached for comment. Candice Peterson, Modest Mouse's manager, says it's a coincidence that Modest Mouse hasn't played local shows since the allegations. "The band may be signing to another label, and they've been out of town a ton because of it," Peterson says. "The allegations haven't affected the band's tours at all. They've been really busy going to Canada, eastern Washington, and Japan." Peterson also dismisses rumors that the rape allegations have Brock thinking about leaving Seattle, although she adds, "His girlfriend goes to school in Florida, so it's a possibility." Isaac later commented after the case was over in an interview: '' "It's an allegation that was withdrawn, and of course that didn't get any press. It was complete and utter bullshit, and the whole situation was so complicated that it's hard for me to go into lots of detail. At the time, I figured I'd just shut up and give this young lady enough rope to hang herself, you know? It fucked up my life once, and I'd prefer to just let it go. Before this all happened, I never believed that anyone would lie about rape. That was my stance: No one lies about this shit. It really made me have to adjust my entire view of people, politics, and my own personal politics. I used to be like, 'Kill rapists!' And all of a sudden I have this false allegation against me. I remember totally writing people off that I'd heard had even been in just awkward sexual situations with girls, like 'That guy's a fucking prick, I'll never talk to him again.' It was weird being on the receiving end of that. A friend of mine who's actually friends with that girl recently told me that she had totally withdrawn having said anything. I only just found out about that myself in the last six months. I knew that basically everyone, up to and including the police, was like, 'This is bullshit.' This person changed her story depending on who she was talking to. It was really just this fucked-up, weird thing."'' -Isaac Brock again in the interview with The Onion A.V. Club 'The Broken Jaw Incident- 2000' During the recording period of The Moon & Antarctica, Modest Mouse, including Isaac Brock, lived in an apartment above their recording studio. It was one night after becoming intoxicated at the bar that Brock exited and was subsequently attacked. "We were living in an apartment above Clava Studios, where we were recording The Moon & Antarctica, and we'd been out at a bar. We drove back to the apartment, and there was a park kind of kitty-corner to it, where local kids were just hanging out. I was going to smoke a cigarette outside before I went in, I'm all friendly drunk-guy, and I decided to shoot the shit with these kids. I'm like, 'Hi, how are you all doing?' And before I can get more words out, some dude from the side just full-on punches me, breaks my jaw. There's 14 of these fuckers. They were chasing after our dog, throwing bottles at me, still throwing punches—but they never landed another one. That's one of the things that could make me think that maybe I'm full of shit on this higher-power thing, because there's no reason that they kept missing after that first punch. I remember turning around and saying, 'You broke my jaw!' and they're just like, 'Fuck you, cowboy!"' -Isaac Brock again in the interview with The Onion A.V. Club The incident left Brock in the hospital for nearly two weeks, and his jaw wired shut for nearly 3 months, stifling progress on The Moon & Antarctica. 'The Ugly Casanova Tour Incident- 2001' During his tour for Ugly Casanova, Brock was arrested and placed in jail for about two weeks. Although the details are fuzzy at best, some charges consisted of illegally crossing the border, DUI, and attempted murder. "I ended up in jail for a while; that was one thing I would've happily skipped. A while back, I had a DUI accident. I hired a lawyer and gave him a retainer, and he told me that he'd get it settled. A year later, my friend and I crossed the border to get a better look at Niagara Falls, and on the way back, they arrested me for attempted murder, being a fugitive, DUI, and whatnot. When the DUI accident happened, my friend's girlfriend dislocated her thumb, and in Oregon, they give you attempted murder for any injury involving alcohol. I ended up in jail, and I had to go everywhere in ankle cuffs and regular cuffs. It was pretty fucked." -Isaac Brock again in the interview with The Onion A.V. Club 'The Departure of Jeremiah Green- 2002' During the early (now scrapped) recording period of Good News For People Who Love Bad News, Isaac Brock and Jeremiah Green had what was described as a "mental meltdown", when Jeremiah left the band. His exodus was supposedly brought on by the sudden inability to write new songs and frustration-fueled tension that came with it. Isaac was deeply depressed by his absence, adding to many other occurences in his life such as friend deaths that happened at the time. This sadness was something Brock was used to, but had decidedly put up with for long enough. This lead to a change in instrumental style and lyrical content in the albums that followed, caused by the mentality that Isaac was "just tired of feeling shit all the time". Artist-5210.jpg|Jeremiah Green (left), Isaac Brock (middle), and Eric Judy (right). 090617-modest-mouse.jpg|Isaac Brock (middle) with Modest Mouse. Isaac+Brock.jpg|Isaac Brock posing with a cigarette modest-mouse19.jpg|Isaac playing the banjo in concert up-modest_mouse.jpg|Isaac Brock poses with a bowling ball. p_graham_photo-59.jpg|Isaac in his champion pose